U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,618,548 and 5,914,119 by Richard A. Dawson disclose incense sticks in which the combustible material has an animal-attracting aromatic substance impregnated therein so as to release a game-luring scent when the material is ignited and allowed to gradually burn in a smoldering manner. Such incense sticks or scent sticks are becoming more popular in the hunting community, as evidenced by a notable increase in the commercial availability of same at hunting retailers.
The forgoing references disclose shelters for shielding such scent sticks from weather conditions (wind, rain, etc.) to prevent these weather elements from causing early termination of the smoldering burn of the scent stick. However, these prior art shelters do not enclose the scent sticks on all sides, and rely on engagement of the scent sticks into the ground to support them in an upright position. There may be a potential risk that a strong wind or interfering animal may knock over the smoldering scent stick, which may present a fire risk in the event of dry ground cover. In addition, the disclosed shelters are either of a pre-formed type of notable size, which that may be inconvenient for hunters to convey through the woods or other difficult terrain, especially when burdened by other hunting equipment (firearms, tree stands, drinking water, etc.), or require on site assembly of more portable components, such as a coat hanger and coffee can lid.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0234567 discloses another scent stick shelter, which is provided in the form of a foldable plastic blank that uses cooperating tabs and slots that maintain the shield in a tubular form when engaged together. However, the scent stick is again engaged in the ground, and thus not enclosed on all sides, and although the blank-type form of the product provides a flat configuration for transport, the flattened blank still occupies notable surface area, since each wall of the resulting tubular shield needs to have a length exceeding that of the scent stick so as to provide a full height wind block for same.
In addition, the forgoing references provide no solution for allowing a hunter to deploy a scent stick from a tree stand to a ground-adjacent position where the released luring scent will be most detectable to ground-roaming game.
Examples of other scent releasing devices using aromatic sources other than burning incense sticks are also known, examples of which can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,937,431, 5,161,646 and 5,307,584. However, these references provide no teaching or suggestion of suitable solutions to the forgoing issues of portable and safe enclosure and tree-stand deployment of combustible scent sticks.
Accordingly, there a desire for improved scent stick solutions addressing the forgoing shortcomings of the prior art.